Jamaica Bay becomes post-storm laboratory

A team of CUNY scientists and students will study how urban ecosystems contend with storms, rising sea levels and the impact of man-made development at a new Science and Resilience Institute to be created in Jamaica Bay, Queens.

"Jamaica Bay is one of the greatest natural treasures any city has within its borders," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an event Monday morning at the 10,000-acre nature preserve, where he announced the new institute. "The new consortium we're announcing today is an all-star team of research institutions and nonprofits who will do important work to protect and preserve urban ecosystems from development and from the effects of climate change."

The institute will study many of the 250 initiatives laid out in the mayor's June report detailing how the city could be engineered to better contend with the effects of climate change. The bay will serve as a laboratory for everything from sand dune engineering to oyster farming as a means to protect the city's shoreline.

"These innovative steps will serve as models for communities across the region and the country as they prepare for impacts of climate change and help them build in a way that makes them stronger, more economically competitive and better able to withstand future storms," said U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, the mayor's former housing commissioner who is leading Sandy recovery efforts on behalf of the Obama administration.

The Science and Resilience Institute will kick off its work with a conference October 17 and 18, "Urban Resilience in an Era of Climate Change: Global Input for Local Solutions."

In addition to the institute, the mayor also announced the creation of the Jamaica Bay–Rockaway Parks Conservancy, a new public-private partnership meant to help fund maintenance and programs at the parks surrounding the bay, similar to the nonprofit entities created for Central Park, Prospect Park, the High Line and elsewhere. In July 2012, the Bloomberg administration reached an agreement with the National Park Service to jointly manage Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, which is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The institute and the conservancy are among the first initiatives of this new partnership.

Tom Secunda, one of the founders of Bloomberg LP, will lead the conservancy. Mr. Secunda has a history of donating his wealth, estimated to be worth $1.4 billion, to many park causes. Adrian Benepe, the city's former parks commissioner and current head of the Trust for Public Land, will also serve on the conservancy's board.

Finally, the mayor announced a new beach grass nursery will be planted at Floyd Bennett Field, allowing for the study and harvesting of beach grasses to protect sand dunes against erosion.

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